One of our main responsibilities as adults is to teach our young people to do the right thing when we are not around. This requires moral development. A combination of external discipline, self-understanding, and moral maturity should lead to self-discipline, and ultimately, moral development. An important way to help young people develop their character is to help them learn from their mistakes. There are many ways to do this, but I believe in the power of the question. Sometimes, the questions we ask young people are more important that the statements we tell them. If we ask our students and children the right questions, we can help them get to their “why.” Through the questioning outlined in my Character Remediation Program, young people should be able to answer three important questions when asked about their “Why did you do it?” “Why is it wrong?” and “if you knew it was wrong, why did you do it?” Getting to the Why serves as a guide to asking those questions to help young people discover their own truth and reasons, thereby improving their character and moral development.
